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Skunks

Jun 3, 2016
·
10 minutes

Hello, I'm the OUTDOOR PROFESSOR from DiscoveringTheOutdoors.com/ Here's your outdoor tip on skunks. Skunks are not aggressive animals, but a close encounter with a skunk in the wild usually raises some level of fear in a person’s mind. Usually they will only be aggressive when surprised, cornered or when protecting their young. The first line of attack for many skunks will be to growl, spit, raise their tails, and stamp the ground. But if you don’t heed its message to “get out of town” seriously, the skunk will turn, lift its tail and spray in your direction. Sometimes an overly-enthusiastic pet dog, even in an urban setting, may bring a sampling of this disgusting scent to your backdoor when returning home after a skunk encounter. This powerful sulfuric deterrent against predators is a strong smelling oily liquid produced by the glands under its tail. They are known to shoot this foul spray as far as #1____________ (How far do you think? I’ll give you several quiz questions such as this one in this podcast. Keep track of your answers and find the correct answers at the end of the podcast). The odorous spray is mostly an irritant, but close range exposure can product nausea, headaches, and vomiting. It can be temporarily incapacitating. Major damage is usually not done to the skunk’s victim, but the smell may linger for days defying attempts to remove it. This defense is so widely known that even most animals respect the skunk’s territory and give a wide birth to even a hint of the smell. The smell of the skunk’s spray is very unique but some describe it as being like cat pee and rotten eggs—others say burnt rubber. Many think that they way to remove the scent from your body is by bathing in tomato juice. This is only true if you want you or your dog to smell like some kind of rare, but unappealing spaghetti dish. It is best to neutralize the skunk spray with baking soda (1/4 cup) and hydrogen peroxide (1 quart) with some liquid soap to break up the oil—you may experience some hair color change. It is best to just throw your clothes away as effective smell removal is not practical. And here’s another quiz question for this podcast. How far away can you